


Creation Legend of Nogitsune

by legendsbigandsmall



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, Gen, Legends, Nogitsune, Original Mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 12:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5785504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendsbigandsmall/pseuds/legendsbigandsmall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are many legends as to how the nogitsune came to be.  They themselves refuse to comment on the topic.  Not that anyone who has asked them has survived to tell anyone.  What follows is but one of these legends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Creation Legend of Nogitsune

On the planet of Earth, there is a magical race known as nogitsune. Giant black foxes a storey and a half tall, they appear to be made more out of shadow than solid matter. Or maybe, it’s solid shadows. They reside in the forests of this planet and are feared by all creatures.

Powerful and prideful, these feared beings wander the forests and other wooded areas at night, searching for their food. Nogitsune are an Alpha Race, a class of preternatural species who are the strongest and oldest of all the species to be found on Earth, as well as Apex Predators - a class of preternatural beings who feed on humans. While their fellows feed the human body - such as yetis who feed on the frozen corpses to be found high in the mountains - nogitsune feeds on negative emotions. Your fear, anger, pain are the breakfast, lunch and dinner of this dark species. As the old saying goes: “There is always gain in pain”.

If one fears a nogitsune than the meal lasts as long as they can be near you. As such, it is more beneficial for nogitsune to remain feared but not outright hated, so as not to lose their food-source. That does not mean one should trust a nogitsune. They will always offer help to anyone they meet and only fools agree. A nogitsune will always be there for you. And the next day or in many years to come, you’ll really wish it hadn’t been.

Nogitsune are tricksters and many are famous outside their chosen forests. They help, in their own I-help-you-you-help-me way, the kings and queens of this planet's nations as well as the everyday common folk. Their names are well-known and legendary: Luci Ferir, the so-thought first of its race; Banewood, the adoptive child of Luci Ferir and the so-thought second of its race; Low Key, the creator of a thousand magical creatures; Rumpelstilzchen, who will usually demand your first born child for even the most mundane of magics; Koschei, who likes to rip out the hearts of those who break deals with it; Jacques, who’s preferred pastime is tricking royalty; Goodfellow, whose name does not match his personality; and many, many others who are not to be trusted or angered for fear of their prideful revenge.

 

There are many legends as to how the nogitsune came to be. The nogitsune themselves refuse to comment on the topic. Not that anyone who has asked them has survived to tell anyone else. What follows is but one of these legends:

The sky is the holder of all souls. While they cannot be seen during the day, the night sky reveals them in the form of stars. Once upon a time there were so many soul-stars in the sky, there was no difference between night and day. But one night, from far far away in the heavens, a being came. A being of shadow and darkness with glowing eyes, flashing teeth and nine tails. This being smelt and felt the odd soul-stars for it did not know what they were. It prodded and poked them. Finally, it licked one of the soul-stars and found it to be was delicious. So the being ate the soul-star. And then it ate another. And another. And another. And another. And then, when it was full and sated, the being lay to sleep where it stood in the sky and slept all the day long. When it woke up the following night, the being leapt to its’ feet and ate another soul-star and with such a warm breakfast went off to tell its’ kind of the most delicious food in all the heavens.

But when the being returned with its’ family and friends, all the soul-stars were gone for it was daytime and the sun hid them from view. The being’s family and friends grumbled at having made such a journey for nothing but the being begged them to wait just a little while, for it was sure the delicious food would return. And sure enough when night fell, the moon revealed the soul-stars to the group. The being’s family and friends tasted the soul-stars and found them as delicious as was described to them. As they feasted, they made gaps between the soul-stars as more room was provided. Through the gaps they noticed that they could see a world with oceans and islands and great big landmasses. Upon the islands and landmasses, they could see little lights - the fireplaces of the world’s people. They wondered if they were more soul-stars on the world below. As they talked, the sun rose and its magnificent light blocked out the light of the soul-stars. Not only that, but as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky, the little lights on the world went out. The beings complained, wondering where the delicious food had gone. Finally, they lay down to rest as their feast and talk and wondering had made them all very sleepy. When they awoke, it was night once more. Once more they feasted and once more they saw the little lights of the world. And once more they went to sleep at dawn, wondering why their food had disappeared.

The next night they awoke but did not eat. They didn’t know what kept happening to their food. “We should got down to the world below,” they reasoned, “Maybe the food doesn’t disappear so far down.” And so they went down to a forest and observed the world around them. Here there were no soul-stars but they could feel their power in the odd two-legged-flat-eared-no-tailed beings of the world. And when the moon rose, the little lights they had seen returned, both in the sky and on the ground. “We should stay here,” they reasoned, “Where the food doesn’t disappear but merely takes on different forms.”

And so, my children, nogitsune came to live in the forests and eat our pain, fear and suffering. And that is why the night sky is black, for the nogitsune ate gaps into the sky, and why the nogitsune only awake under the cover of darkness and the light of the moon and the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> I fully admit that the nogitsune species seen here was inspired by the one seen on MTV's Teen Wolf. That being said, this isn't a Teen Wolf fanwork. It isn't set in the Teen Wolf universe and is entirely comprised of my own thoughts and imaginings. I haven't done any research on nogitsune. I don't know if they are actually real in the sense they are figures portrayed in Japanese folklore or if Teen Wolf just made them up. I'm not really interested in doing any such research. I just took the 'black foxes that feed on fear, chaos and strife' depiction and ran with it, making up my own creature in the process.


End file.
